I am a first time car owner. I bought a new CRV from a dealership. But I am very confused what documents I am supposed to provide to the DMV to complete my registration.
The dealer told me it’d take care of everything. DMV already mailed me the registration sticker and I got my license plates the day I bought the vehicle, so I thought I was set. But then I read that I need to provide proof of insurance to DMV. Is a copy of the insurance card from Geico enough? Can I fax or mail it in or must I waste a day to go to DMV?
Are there anything else that I may need to submit?
Did the dealer take your insurance information from you? If so, you probably don’t need to do anything. Call the dealer and ask them. If they aren’t any help, contact the DMV and ask them what to do. It seems to me the dealer couldn’t give you the registration without proof of insurance.
Many dealers in NY will handle the registration for you (for a fee). NY State requires a specific state form for insurance that’s filled out by your insurance company.
Beside the insurance form you’ll need the bill of sale. If you’re financing the vehicle, then you’ll need the paperwork from the loan company.
Personally - if the fee the dealer charges isn’t too much…I’d let them do it. I’ve spent a whole day waiting in line a the NY State DMV just to find out I was missing one piece of paper…went back the following day and spent another 4 hours in line. NY State DMV is the WORSE DMV I’ve ever seen. When I moved to NH and it only took me 20 minutes to register my car and transfer my drivers license…I couldn’t believe it.
How hard would it be to call the dealer and ask if there is anything else they need to do since they said they would take care of it. You could mail your insurance certificate and might not hear anything again.
I think Mike knows what he is talking about. Sounds like a separate form needs to be filled out and filed with the DMV, but call the dealer and the DMV. My gosh, in Minnesota I’ve never had to deal with DMV at all except when a year later I need new stickers. The dealers just took care of it.
A couple weeks later the dealer calls for you to pick up the plates and that’s it.
One thing I will give the state of Oklahoma credit for is improving the way things are done at the DMV.
One can walk into an agency and get a drivers license renewed, current year tag, or registration and tag on a just purchased vehicle and be out the door in minutes.
I just renewed the tag on my Lincoln last month and from the time I shut the engine off until I restarted it after getting the new sticker and paperwork was less than 5 minutes.
In NY, if you got your plates, the registration process is complete. New car dealers in NY have plates at the dealership and take care of the registration process for you. The dealer contacts your insurance company and gets the FS-1 for you.
In NY State it is a BAD idea to assume that the DMV has proof of your insurance. Penalties for driving a registered car without insurance are severe. For the first 30 days it is $8 per day. For the second thirty days it is $10 per day. For the third thirty days it is $12 per day. That means the first month will cost you $240, the second month will be $300 and the third month will be $360. That’s $900 for three months of driving a NY State DMV registered vehicle without insurance.
With that being said, every NY State car dealer that sells you a new vehicle contacts your insurance company for the appropriate insurance binder. This allows them to complete the registration and put license plates on the car. They cannot complete the registration process without the insurance binder. As long as you do not let your insurance lapse you should be fine.
In NY State it is a BAD idea to assume that the DMV has proof of your insurance.
When I lived in NY you couldn’t get a car registered without a current insurance card.So not sure how a car could get registered by the dealer without that card. The insurance card was one of the REQUIRED documents.
My gosh, what a bureaucracy. What business is it of the dealer or the DMV whether or not a car is insured? Dealers sell cars. DMV collects money for registration and issues driver’s licenses.
Here in WA if you buy a new car the dealer will process your registration for you, and you either get your license plates in the mail or go back to the dealer and grab them. If you buy a used car it most likely already has license plates so you just transfer the registration to your name. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than 15 minutes licensing a car. Well, the trip to get the car emissions tested takes some time, but that may or may not be needed.
Not having insurance is a ticketable offense here, and as such the local police or state patrol can write you a ticket for not having proof of insurance. But the DMV or dealers have no place in enforcing state laws. Dealers are private businesses and DMV is just an administrative entity.
Do you have proof of insurance from your insurance company? You should have a card that can be stored with the registration card in your glove box. As long as you have that with current dates you are covered. If it will make you feel better make a copy and mail it to the DMV with proof of delivery, along with the note they sent you questioning the insurance. Keep copies in case they contact you again.
Well not to make a detour but I just disagree that the DMV has no part in enforcing state laws. They are in fact a state agency or their agents, wrote most of the vehicle laws, and is the one place everyone needs to go to to continue driving a vehicle, especially for those of us without emissions testing.
Minnesota used to require insurance information with the annual plate renewal but did away with it a few years ago. It was actually pretty simple and effective in catching those without insurance. Of course the problem was with auditing the policy numbers people provided which is where all the time was spent and the problems developed. If you don’t notify people of address changes and they send you an insurance verification notice and cancel your DL for non response, its your own fault but got a lot of people in trouble. At any rate, state agencies have the duty to enforce state laws in general.
My gosh, what a bureaucracy. What business is it of the dealer or the DMV whether or not a car is insured?
Not having insurance is a ticketable offense here, and as such the local police or state patrol can write you a ticket for not having proof of insurance
What good is that going to do if you or someone in your family is maimed by one of these self-centered fools that do not have insurance? It’s too late by then. Exactly how difficult is to to show proof of insurance BEFORE you’re allowed to drive the car???